Coolers installed in seven Texas prisons in summer-heat test

AUSTIN - Facing yet another federal lawsuit over sweltering summer conditions inside Texas' prisons, the state quietly has installed cooling units at seven lockups as part of a pilot program that eventually could be extended statewide, officials confirmed Wednesday.

The move marks a significant departure from the operating practice in Texas' 109 state prisons, where only a few medical and special-needs units are now air-conditioned, and appears to backtrack on officials' long-standing assertions that additional cooling measures were unneeded.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, insisted the installation of the 28 "Cool-Space" evaporative coolers in the seven prisons across Texas without fanfare in May is simply a test, not a major policy shift.

"As we do every summer, the agency looks for ways to help mitigate temperature extremes," he said. "This pilot program will allow agency administrators to gather information on the effectiveness of this equipment in our dorms. TDCJ will continue to examine ways to lower temperatures where it's possible, and we remain committed to making sure that staff and offenders are safe during the hot summer months."

Clark and other prison officials said the large "fans" were ordered in April and installed in May in dormitory day rooms at the Holliday Transfer Facility in Huntsville, Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio, Gist State Jail in Beaumont, Middleton Transfer Facility in Abilene, Gurney State Jail in Palestine, Hutchins State Jail in Dallas and Garza West Transfer Facility in Beeville.

As that was happening, a study by the University of Texas law school concluded that extreme heat in Texas prisons had caused at least 14 deaths since 2007 and posed a continuing threat to prisoners' health. Prison officials at the time rejected suggestions that additional cooling gear was needed, insisting that existing policies of providing additional water, shorter work shifts and fans were sufficient to protect prisoners' health.

Confirmation of the pilot program came Wednesday as four convicts at the Pack Unit outside Navasota, northwest of Houston, asked a federal court to require prison officials to take steps to lower temperatures at the prison where they allege metal tables are too hot to touch, metal-walled cell blocks are like ovens, and convicts have to sleep on concrete floors because metal bunks are too hot.

The four felons locked up at the Pack Unit - all with medical conditions and disabilities that are aggravated by heat - claim they are being subjected to inhumane conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit also alleges that prison conditions have been blamed in 20 heat-related deaths since 1998.

The heat lawsuit, the first one seeking class-action status that could open the prison system up to statewide litigation on the issue, joins more than a half-dozen other suits filed by family members that are pending over summer heat inside Texas' state prisons.

"Pack is a geriatric unit that has hundreds of inmates over the age of 60, and hundreds more suffer from heat-sensitive medical conditions," said Austin attorney Jeff Edwards, lead counsel in the case. "(Prison officials) know the temperatures at Pack put these prisoners in danger rather than cool the housing areas or move the prisoners to safe locations. … For these inmates and staff, this is like living in your attic during the summertime."

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring prison officials to lower the temperatures in prisoner areas at Pack to a maximum 88 degrees, a level set last year by a Louisiana federal court as safe in prisons there.

TDCJ spokesman Clark said officials do not comment on pending litigation.

Clark said that the seven prisons were selected for the cooler test because they house convicts who generally are among the newer arrivals to the system and may be less accustomed to summer conditions than longer-tenured prisoners.

Prisons where the tests are being conducted are among Texas' newest; most opened in the 1990s and feature metal buildings that have been the subject of complaints that they are among the hottest. They house roughly one-tenth of Texas' 151,000 convicts and about 2,900 of the 30,000 correctional employees.

As part of the pilot, officials said measurements are being taken at intervals to see if the coolers lower the temperatures significantly.

The manufacturer's website said the Cool-Space "technology combines water and forced air to reduce temperatures by as much as 20 (degrees Fahrenheit)."

In basic terms, the self-contained units work like this: Water is used to cool air that is blown through the machines with large fans. Requiring a water source, they are widely used in a variety of applications, from large event tents and horse barns to auto shops and warehouses.

Prison officials last year sparked controversy by approving $750,000 to build six climate-controlled pig barns at prisons, at a time when summer-heat complaints by staff and convicts were making headlines.

Clark said the units cost just over $50,600 in all - nearly $1,808 apiece. If they should prove applicable systemwide, the cost would be much less than earlier estimates that it could cost as much as $50 million to air-condition all prisons.

"I'm surprised they're doing this pilot, because we asked about this and were not told," said Scott Medlock, an Austin prisoner-rights lawyer involved in several of the pending prison-heat cases. "It would seem to be a significant admission that there is a problem with heat. Otherwise, why spend a dollar if the prisons are safe?"

Lance Lowry, president of a Huntsville-based union that represents some correctional employees, suggested the coolers are only a stopgap measure. "I've seen them, and it's not a permanent fix," he said. "It's, basically, a big fan blowing hot air through water, and to think you can put one of these in every day room and solve the heat problem is not paying attention to reality."

In fact, Medlock said the prison system's own expert in the ongoing litigation has insisted that water coolers were not sufficient to solve the problem.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, said he was unaware of the pilot program, and will want to see the test results.

"This nowhere near air-conditioning in prisons, which I don't think Texans support," he said. "But I think they'll understand using water coolers as an incentive for inmates to get out of the heat if they behave. We do need to try to help inmates and staff tolerate the extreme summer heat."